itsthefishdoctor-blog

[itsthefishdoctor-blog]

The United States of Delusion

I don’t even know what to say today y'all.

There has been just a massive amount of mind-boggling nonsense inundating us for the past week that I can’t feel anything other than overwhelmed. I’m overwhelmed by the outrageous comments the president has made. I’m overwhelmed by the bold-faced LIES that he has spewed; overwhelmed by the hypocrisy of every single thing he has done and said.

I knew this was coming. I knew it when I cast my ballot for a woman I didn’t think was the best choice but wasn’t an absolute psychopath. I knew it when y'all told us to give him a chance because even though he hadn’t taken office, his hateful rhetoric had already changed the tone of our nation. To be honest, I’ve know it every single time the carrot has opened his mouth. I knew this was coming and I am STILL blown away.

And of course, I’m blown away by this clown. His presidency literally exceeds my comprehension. But what blows me away even more than his bullshit, is the lack of outrage from those of you who voted for him.

Y'all. This. Dude. Lied. To. You.

Not that this a new thing for him. He lied multiple times on the campaign trail (“lock her up” is still ringing particularly loud) and has continued to lie since he was elected. It literally is the most unreal sort of lying I’ve ever seen. It’s bold-faced and its over INSANE things. Like, who actually lies about doing/saying something they are well documented to have done/said? Seriously? WHO DOES THAT?

We’ve had politicians who lie before. That is not at all new, in fact its basically a requirement. But every single time we’ve caught them in a lie, they have to make a big public apology (which you wont accept) and then we hold it against them and call them a liar for the rest of their career. Example: Bill Clinton was not impeached because he had an affair. Bill Clinton was impeached because he LIED about having the affair. Which in comparison to the lies our new fearless leader is spewing, seem like child’s play. I won’t even begin to discuss the ridiculousness of that entire process (especially Trump’s use of it to undermine Bill’s wife and her run for president) but the hypocrisy is, once-again, mind blowing.

SO ANYWAYS.

I’ve posted a nice article on my facebook page choked full of the lies Donald Trump has spewed in the past week vs. the facts that actually happened here in the real world. Seriously, this blows my mind that these are things being debated. Read it or don’t, but I promise there is actual evidence that contradicts the crap the president has tried to make into facts. But that, again isn’t really the point of all this.

What we need to talk about right now, is the state of my country.

Because I am not entirely sure what is happening or who’s country this is anymore. If I’ve seen anything in the past week, it’s that Donald Trump is very well set on making this HIS country and he doesn’t give a flying fuck what he has to do or who he has to throw under the bus to get there.

And I don’t know why there are so many of my fellow citizens who voted for him who are not scared or downright pissed about this. Because y'all are the ones who trusted him. You chose to put your faith in a man and in the span of a week he has completely overhauled your country. I don’t know if you just don’t understand what all these executive orders mean (to be fair, there have been an exorbitant amount) or just don’t care because somehow they don’t apply to you. Because I’ve defended y'all. I have allowed you to justify your vote for other things but I’m done now. Because I’m not entirely sure there’s anything that man can say or do to make some of you even question him, let alone denounce his actions.

When you have a man in charge of the greatest free nation in the world telling the press what they can and cannot report, you are no longer a part of a free nation. When you have a president silencing SCIENTISTS and evidence-based facts, you no longer live in a safe nation. When you have a president using religion to decide who can and cannot enter our country, you no longer live in America (a nation literally founded by men running away from the nationalized Church of England).

The point is we have entered some sort of insane alternate universe where we call lies alternate facts. A world where we ignore hypocrisy unless its directed against our opponent. A place where we look the other way when something unjust happens that doesn’t apply to us. A nation that doesn’t make any damn sense and pretty much defies every single principle it was founded on.

So I’m gonna talk about hypocrisy for a second because its about damn time we start holding each other accountable.

You DO NOT get to criticize pro-life women at your women’s march. You DO NOT get to yell at people afraid to let in refugees when it took you five years to pay attention to the crisis in Syria. You DO NOT get to remain silent when a SNL writer says horrible things about Baron Trump because of who his father is. You DO NOT get to say Trump is not a “legitimate president”. You DO NOT get to remain silent when protesters destroy property or attack police. You DO NOT get to support the women’s march but stay silent to the Black Lives Matter movement. You DO NOT get to freak out about Republicans racism and make fun of Melania’s broken English. You DO NOT get to criticize the people who felt like they had no choice to vote for Trump when your party nominated a lackluster candidate through some pretty sketchy tactics. You DO NOT get to act like the ACA is affordable for most people or the best option for healthcare for our nation. You DO NOT get to remain silent when Madonna threatens to blow up the white house. You DO NOT get to act like illegal immigrants didn’t break the law.

You DO NOT get to preach to me about how you voted for Trump because he was financially conservative and then not lose your damn mind when he essentially forces you to pay for an utterly useless wall. You DO NOT get to tell me healthcare is too expensive to be a universal right but a billion dollar wall isn’t. You DO NOT get to talk to me about the Democrats ridiculous spending when the GOP wasted $7 million to investigate Hilary in Benghazi TWICE and who knows how much investigating Trump’s newest bullshit voter fraud claim. You DO NOT get to tell me you are pro-life and refuse to allow Syrian refugees into our country. You DO NOT get to say “what would Jesus do” to defend fetuses but not actual, fully formed humans. You DO NOT get to tell me radical Muslims pose more of a threat domestically than mentally ill white guys like Dylan Roof or Adam Lanza. You DO NOT get to get your panties in a wad about how we’ve become a “politically correct” country where you can’t say what you want and not BE UTTERLY TERRIFIED that the president has essentially put a gag order on the EPA, NASA, the National Park Service, etc. You DO NOT get to chant “drain the swamp” at your terrifying rallies and then remain silent when Trump builds a cabinet overflowing with the most under-qualified and swampiest, swamp monsters. You DO NOT get to demand to see President Obama’s birth certificate but not Trump’s tax returns. You DO NOT get to criticize peaceful protests against Trump’s low-class behavior when y'all protested Obama’s election because of his skin color. And you DEFINITELY DO NOT get to say celebrities need to stay out of politics when you fools elected one.

Y'all are afraid of ISIS and don’t understand how banning immigrants from ISIS’ stomping grounds feeds directly into their recruiters hands. How banning people from Muslim predominate countries (but not the most Muslim predominate countries and not the countries who have a history of attacking us) shows all the people who ISIS recruit just how horrible the Americans are. Y'all THREW THE BIGGEST FREAKING FIT EVER about Hilary’s freaking email server (even though most of us don’t even know what the heck a private email server is) and then are silent when Donald Trump’s administration has done the EXACT SAME THING. Y'all were up in arms about the Clinton Foundations international connections but look the other way when your president makes a bullshit executive order to ban Muslims only from countries he is convenient enough not to have financial ties to (and then believe the nonsense that Obama did the same thing in 2011: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/29/trumps-facile-claim-that-his-refugee-policy-is-similar-to-obama-in-2011/?utm_term=.328b3f2a974d). You DO NOT get to highlight a portion of that executive order and claim our president refuses to support countries that oppress the LGBTQ community when he openly supports Putin.

Here’s the thing y'all. We need to figure out just what it is we stand for. Because I really don’t think anyone has any clue anymore. We’ve warped our views and beliefs to fit into certain political parties who have their own conflicting views. Republicans are conservative unless its something they want (like a wall). They want the government to stay out of their wallets but are okay with it in women’s reproductive organs. Democrats want everyone to be respected and then call every single Trump supporter a bigot/racist/oppressor. They want the government to stay out of their reproductive organs but provide them free birth control. These labels are only further examples of the division that has broken our country. We are so divided over words that don’t even represent well-organized ideas.

We’ve got to stop y'all. We have to come back to the ideas we were founded on. We weren’t meant to have a national religion. We weren’t meant to have just two political parties; as if that could possibly represent every single American adequately. We weren’t meant to deny immigrants when the founders themselves were immigrants.

But more than that, we need to be good humans. We need to help those who’s homelands have been destroyed because we refused to get involved until it was too late. We need to speak up about injustice in the world and demand action. We need to be kind and fair and generous and compassionate. We need to acknowledge when those we disagree with do the right thing. We need to call out the people we support when they do the wrong thing. We need to respect our fellow humans no matter who they are because, duh. Seriously, duh.

I say all of that knowing full well that even if all of that happens, we may not be any better off. I know that change is a hard thing for people to do and that a few people have a very difficult time changing the world. I know that President Trump will continue to do whatever he wants to do regardless of who it upsets. I know that most of us are too proud to admit, our “opponent” has some valid points.

But I have to say something and I have to try something. Because I feel SO FREAKING HOPELESS. Even though I have watched amazing things unfold in the past week to counter this monster of a president, I feel defeated.

I don’t know what is going to happen next and I’m truly terrified to find out. I can’t even begin to imagine how those of you are who aren’t a privileged white woman are feeling. I’m sorry for you. I really, really am. I want you to know that I’ve got your back and I will fight for you with every fiber of my being because I am grateful for your existence. And you matter. We, the people are the best part of this country and we are what makes America great. I will defend your right to be treated with respect and dignity no matter what. And I can only hope that enough people will do the same. I hope enough people can be as bold as Judge Ann Donnelly or the 3 million women who marched or John McCain who opposed Trump’s latest executive order.

I guess really all I can do right now is continue to hope. I hope we continue to stand up for each other even if its for people who are totally different than us or people we will never meet. I hope that we can all figure out what really matters is the type of people we are and the values we hold and act on. I hope we can be the type of people who inspire others to overcome hate and can bring the generation behind us into a better, more respectful world.

I know this is all very Mean Girls-esque but I sincerely wish I had a big ass plastic crown to break apart and throw at everyone. Because really, y'all are beautiful and if Cady Heron can figure out how to apologize for being a bitch and try to make amends for it in a two hour film, I think our country can probably get through the next four years without pushing anyone in front of a bus.

(That’s a crappy Mean Girls reference; please don’t push people in front of busses)

-Be kind to one another-

also a friendly reminder this blog is for me and possible future nuggets who I want to remember that their mom was definitely not cool with all this bullshit they’ll have to learn in history class. And also for anyone who feels as shitty as I do and needs some love ✌️️

[itsthefishdoctor-blog]

Bet you can’t guess what this is about #NastyWoman

I thought I’d start this very overdue blog talking about the thing on everyone’s mind: the Super Bowl.

Lol jk.

So it’s block weekend and I have way more pressing things to do than write a blog. I really, really should have been studying instead of sitting here typing this post. I was going to wait until after my exam tomorrow but I’ve honestly been too worked up all weekend and there was no way I was going to make it through the rest of the day without saying something about the women’s march on washington.

Before I even get started on what’s going on now, I think it’s important to have quick recap/history lesson so we’re all on the same page here.

I’m going old school here and starting with a brief recap of The Constitution, ya know, that super old document our President just swore to “preserve, uphold, and protect”. In case you had forgotten or idk, never learned it, our constitution has a nifty first amendment stating: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” That is literally the first amendment. Right there at the top. Just a friendly reminder of that stuff you learned in high school government class that everyone seems to now have an issue with.

Onto the next history topic. Marches on Washington date as far back 1894 beginning with a march literally from Ohio (you go boys) for workers rights. The more notable marches include the women’s suffrage march in 1913, the Klu Klux Klan march in 1925 (yea, that happened), and the march on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 (more affectionately known as the Civil Rights March). While each of those three marches deserve some recognition for various reasons, I’m gonna talk about the Civil Rights march. This is where MLK Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. This is where “10 demands” were made calling for equality in employment, wages, and education. This is where the country came together giving, a face to injustice, racism, and division. This is the march that showed the power of peaceful demonstration and unity. Fast forward 50 or so years and hundred of thousands of women have gathered in Washington D.C. (And other major cities across the globe) to peacefully protest. To stand together, united in our outrage, our embarrassment, our fear. Many people are, again, calling them crybabies or sore losers. Many people think they’re are being dramatic and have no cause to protest. Many people don’t think protesting serves a point. I hope some of those people are reading this because honestly, I want you to hear this and I want to hear your reply because I want to understand. I want to understand how you don’t understand this march. I want to understand how you can mock and belittle these hundreds of thousands of women standing up for what they believe in. I want to understand how you can see something like this and not even try to understand what it must have taken for so many women to be a part of it. I want to understand how you don’t understand, really I do. I wish I didn’t understand. I wish I didn’t feel the same thing these women do or could stop myself from empathizing with the other groups of people they march for. I wish my privilege of being a white, upper-class woman made me oblivious to the injustices faced by so many in our country. But I do understand, because it doesn’t. Donald Trump is the president of the United States. This is a fact. He is the president of my country, a country I am so honored and proud to belong to. I, and the majority of the country, am not happy about this fact. I am not unhappy because he is a Republican. I am not unhappy because Hilary Clinton lost. I am unhappy because this man is not MY president. I get how this is a hard statement for people to swallow. Really, truly I do. When I first heard it, I was a little put off by it as well because, well, he is the president. And even though he is a master at denying facts, I can appreciate that a fact is a fact. But even though he is THE president, I do not have to claim him as mine. He does not belong to me and he sure as hell does not represent me. I’d like to think he doesn’t represent most of us, even people who voted for him. I’d like to believe MY country does not relate to a LYING, racist, homophobic, ignorant, narcissistic, deceitful, close-minded, accused sex offender. But ya’ll really are making it hard. I get why some of you felt like you had to vote for him. I get how you felt like you had no choice to look past those qualities he embodies and chose to make him president. I don’t understand how you of all people aren’t standing out there with these women or, even worse, are criticizing them for criticizing him. And maybe you don’t fully understand the point of the protest. I’ve actually seen a couple of people who genuinely seem to be trying to understand what the goal of these women is so I’ll address that now. First off, they aren’t trying to get Trump removed from office. Seriously. Even if that was possible by a simple march, no one wants to get stuck with Mike freaking Pence as our president. They aren’t trying to demand “special privileges” or “throw a tantrum” because they didn’t get what they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of women all over the world did not give up their precious time just to throw a damn fit. Come on guys. These women are marching as a statement to the new president and to the world. They are marching for their rights and the rights of their daughters and minorities, and the LGBTQ community, and immigrants, and every other group of people who Donald Trump has at some point in time been made to feel less human and less important. They are marching to show that no matter who lives in the white house, our country will not stay silent to injustice, inequality, and hate. We will not allow anyone to take away rights from our fellow citizens. We will not allow rape culture and sexual assault to be normalized and accepted. We will not allow racism and xenophobia to be a part of our society. We will not allow the values that President Trump has exhibited to be the culture of our country. We will not allow anyone, including President Trump, to silence us. And we will absolutely not allow the world to ignore the already great nation we are so lucky to live in. I am so proud of these women. I wish I could be there to join their force but am so thrilled to watch this historic and powerful event unfold. I am so lucky to belong to a generation of such bad-ass women who refuse to be ignored. It is such an honor to live in a country where we are guaranteed the freedom to peacefully assemble and make our voices, our concerns heard. So to all my fellow nasty women and their supporters, THANK YOU. Thank you for standing up for my right to my body, for my children’s right to love whoever the hell they want, for my friends’ of any ethnicity and their right to feel safe and valued. Thank you for not forcing those less financially privileged from choosing whether to have a lump in their breast examined or feed their family for a week. Thank you for demanding that my work be just as valuable and well-compensated as my male co-workers. Thank you for showing future generations of women that they are beautiful and important no matter what size they wear. Thank you for showing the world that no man has the right to touch any woman without her consent. Thank you for being an inspiration in a time where so many of us feel so little hope. To those of you who are rolling your eyes at these protests and belittling these women, I also want to thank you. It is because of people like you that this march even existed and this will certainly be an event that history will applaud. Its definitely one I’m so proud to witness. I also hope at some point you can understand why this is necessary. I hope you can understand that these women are fighting for your right to be either pro-life or pro-choice, fighting for your right to make decisions about your own body. I hope you never need to utilized Planned Parenthood’s services and are never forced to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. I hope you one day understand that demanding that women make as much money as their male counterparts is nothing but common sense. I hope you understand the irony of taxing feminine hygiene products because they aren’t a medication but not drugs like Viagra, Rogaine, or Testosterone. I hope you never fall in love with someone of the same sex and are told you can’t marry them. I hope your religion always stays in the majority and is never the one being told to sign up for registries. I hope you never feel persecuted for your race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. I hope you understand how blessed you must be to not feel these inequalities on a personal level. I also want you to understand that this is what protests are for. The men who founded our country did so because they were unhappy with their leadership. They made this a country founded on freedom and justice and guaranteed everyone of us the right to criticize our government peacefully; exactly as these women are doing. This is their right and it is a right that has been exercised before to produce great change in our nation. Great change is about to unfold. No one is rooting for President Trump more than me. I am rooting for my country. I am rooting for the rights of every single citizen, even those who didn’t vote the same way as me. That is the beauty of our country. This march is the beauty of our country. Equal rights is the beauty of our country. Donald Trump will not decide our America for the next four years. No matter what policies he implements or ridiculous things he says, he will never be a representation of our United States. It’s up to us to show our children, our sisters, our brothers, our friends, our world that we are not Donald Trump. We are stronger together y'all, we have always been stronger together and we never needed Hillary in office for that to be true. We are one nation and we have to take care of each other. We have to stand up for each other. We have to demand that everyone be treated fairly. We have to protect our freedoms and show the world that America has always been, and will always be the greatest nation in the world. I hope there are so many more marches to come. I hope there are so many different people we get to celebrate and support. I hope everyone gets to exercise their freedoms and stand up for those who need it. I hope this election has inspired people like it has inspired me. I hope there’s a whole generation inspired to be the type of nasty women who know they can do anything they want, even if that’s to run for president. “Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”

[itsthefishdoctor-blog]

Ohio, this one’s for you

This one is gonna be short and sweet because I’ve got a bunch of cancers to study and I’m not about to dive heavy into all the science junk involved in abortion. But I am going to talk about abortion. And I’m probably going to piss a lot of people off but ya know, that’s really just one of my specialties so buckle up. 

Okay not really. I’m really not trying to be a jerk. I know this is a tricky topic and that every single person has their mind made up about it. I’m not trying to change that. But there is a discussion that needs to be had about this and while I’m by no means any sort of expert, I have some things that need to be said.

Ohio passed a law today affectionately called “the heartbeat bill” which would ban all abortions when a fetal heartbeat could be detected (around 6 weeks). 

I won’t begin to talk about all the science involved in the formation of a human because it’s pretty freaking complicated. We spend two years of medical school studying it. And I know that all doctors will never be able to agree when life begins or just when a fetus becomes a person. I’m not going to try to clear that up because, well I can’t. I also know that religion plays a huge role in people’s belief of the beginning of life and again, I can’t argue with people’s interpretation of a super old book. But I can argue with the idea that a heartbeat defines a life and I’d imagine that most other health professionals can too.

Imagine someone you love is in a horrible car accident. When first responders arrive at the scene, they place their hand on your loved one’s chest and feel their heart thud a few times and then, all of the sudden, it stops beating. There is a brief pause where your loved one’s heart has completely stopped. And then the first responder begins pounding on their chest, blowing air into their lungs, and pushing drugs to start their heart again. And miraculously, it works. They get your loved one to the hospital where they undergo a bunch of testing and procedures and possibly surgery to stabilize your loved one. They’re placed on a ventilator and sent to the ICU.  Unfortunately, their body suffered too much trauma and a few days later, your loved one is declared brain dead. After countless conversations with your family and your loved one’s family and the doctors and the leader of your faith, you decide that rather than continue to keep your loved one’s body alive, you should remove them from the ventilator and allow them to pass away. 

This is a lot of people’s worst nightmare and is undoubtedly a tricky scenario. I hope I’m never placed in this decision with my loved ones and I’m sure everyone can agree to that. I’ve told multiple people in my life that if they ever do have to make this decision, I would want them to take me off the life supportive measures because I do not want to “live” as a vegetable. 

I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

While on the ventilator, this fully formed human being had a heartbeat – a heartbeat you, and all who had an influence on the decision, decided to stop.  And if, like Ohio, we are choosing to define life by the measurement of a heartbeat, then this person has a life, even though they are not living.  And you and every other person involved in the decision to “pull the plug” or act of “pulling the plug” are murderers.  I know that word is probably a little harsh, but Ohio pitched and I’m playing ball.

We, as a medical community, don’t consider life to be over when a heart stops unless there is either no hope of starting it again or it has been stopped too long for the brain to have retained any functional capacity. It’s why we have “Code Blue” teams who literally coming sprinting when patients’ hearts stop and why we spend hours running a code, trying desperately to bring someone back and why every person who works in the hospital knows how to do CPR. 

The medical community also doesn’t consider someone alive because their heart is beating. We only consider patients to be dead when their brain can no longer function. It’s why we run EEG’s on patients who have suffered brain injuries to make sure that they no longer have regular patterns of brain activity. It’s why we check patient’s pupils before calling a time of death. 

While it’s true that fetuses have detectable heartbeats around the 6th week, they do not exhibit any regular brain wave patterns until around the 25th week of gestation. There are only twelve states in the nation that allow abortions past the 26th week and only 7 with no restrictions. Only 1.3% of all abortions in this country are preformed after 21 weeks and only 0.2% are done using the dilation and evacuation procedure required for postviable fetuses. With that being said, you’d be hard pressed to find a physician, someone who spent 23+ years of their lives dedicated to educating themselves to help others, who was willing to perform an abortion without a good reason. No one goes into medical school thinking “Man, I just really want to specialize in late term abortions for women especially if there’s no reason for it”. It just doesn’t happen. It’s not what we’re trained to do. 

But honestly none of that is the point. Under Roe v. Wade each state has the right to set its own restrictions on abortions in the second and third trimester. So really, this bill Ohio came up with doesn’t have any sort of validity because Roe v. Wade has established that first trimester abortions are legal in this country. 

Which makes this entire argument a moot point. 

Except it’s not. Because we’ve been hearing a lot of threats to overturn Roe v. Wade and our current political situation makes this, at the very least, a plausible scenario. And if that is overturned, then bills like the heartbeat bill would be the “rule of law” in their states and women, who have had the right to an abortion since 1973, would no longer necessarily be allowed that right. 

And listen guys, I get it. I really do. 

I love nuggets. Babies are super awesome. I want a whole big bunch of them and will probably end up adopting some of the nearly 108,000 children currently in our foster care system waiting for families. I get that y’all think they have rights and sincerely, so do I. I’m a Liberterian through and through, and firmly believe that you can do whatever the hell you want as long as it doesn’t infringe on everyone else’s rights to do whatever they want. But I don’t think those rights begin at conception, or when they develop fingers or toes, or when their heart begins to beat. And I can respect that some people do. That’s your right. It makes no factual sense to me, but if you want to believe that, it doesn’t hurt anyone or take away their rights.

But it’s not your right to force that belief on someone else when it goes against scientific evidence. And if you apply the logic that life is defined by a heartbeat then you had better be ready to be pronounced dead when your heart stops and you better plan on being left as a vegetable on a ventilator if you’re ever declared brain dead. Because you can’t change a definition based on a scenario. That isn’t how definitions work and it isn’t how science works. I’m not suggesting that we need to decide when a fetus becomes a human or when a life becomes a life. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to nail down one moment where a fetus suddenly goes from a fetus to a human and there will never be a definition of life that everyone can agree on. But I am saying that Ohio’s definition is medically unfounded and supporting a concept that science cannot support.

I know this is a tough subject for a lot of people. I get that and I respect it. I would never, ever begin to tell anyone what to do with their body. I think that if you can make an educated decision, then you have all the rights to do so. I also think that everyone has the right to disagree with me. And I normally wouldn’t talk about something like this because it is so controversial. And it’s also not something people really change their minds on so there’s really no point. 

But I promised myself that I wouldn’t stay silent after this election. Because as John Oliver so wonderfully put it “Do whatever you need to do to remind yourself, this is not normal”. Well, here I am reminding myself and you that this is not normal.

The Heartbeat Bill was passed at this juncture because of our President-elect and because of the supreme court vacancy. Not implying things here, the guy behind the bill literally said that. This bill that has no scientific or legal basis was passed because our President -elect doesn’t care about scientific or legal basis. He doesn’t care about facts. And that’s a different topic entirely (for further reading, please consult Donald Trump’s twitter feed) but relevant to this post. 

Y’all elected a dude who IS going to change our country. I, and arguably every citizen, would like for that to be in the best way possible and regardless of your stance on abortion everyone needs to understand that this bill is not good for anyone. It is not good for people who have heart attacks, people who have DNRs, people who don’t want to be hooked up to a breathing tube for the rest of their lives. It’s not good for women who want to have the right to their own body. It’s not good for the hundreds of thousands of kids already waiting to be adopted. It’s not good for anyone who knows the mortality associated with illegal abortions. This bill is not good. This bill is irresponsible and dangerous, and calls into question principles the medical community has held true for years. 

This bill is everything we all were afraid of when this election happened, and I refuse to stay silent because this is NOT normal. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

as always, some sources and additional reading material that is full of all sorts of sciencey goodness. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1375210/ -this one is interesting bc it actually chooses to define life at the 8th week when brain waves are first detectable. still later than the ohio bill and still a little different definition than I’m taking but interesting nonetheless. 

https://www.acog.org/-/media/Departments/Government-Relations-and-Outreach/FactAreImportFetalPain.pdf

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-does-consciousness-arise/

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6410a1.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2016/10/20/no-late-term-abortions-dont-rip-babies-out-of-wombs-but-they-are-needed/#7f7692231bc4

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/roe-v-wade

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/21/us/abortion-restrictions-in-states.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/12/07/empowered-by-trump-ohio-legislature-pass-heartbeat-bill-that-would-ban-most-abortions/?utm_term=.2b985fb12c92

[itsthefishdoctor-blog]

Science, yo

11.16.16

Today I’m going to blabber about science, which probably isn’t that surprising considering all I do almost every single day is exclusively science. But today in class we talked about HIV and AIDS which reminded me of something I read earlier this week written by Seth MacFarlane. Now I know that doesn’t sound promising. And I’ll be the first to say I really am not a fan of the dude. He’s also probably not the one we should be listening to when it comes to science. Regardless of that, he made a lot of points that were really quite valid. I shared it on facebook because obviously everyone wants to read all the things I find interesting. 

ANYWAYS.

In his post, he discusses the importance of science especially in light of our new, future president. I was happy to see this from someone like him because some of my greatest fears stemming from Donald Trump’s election involve science. I think a lot of people seriously underestimate the extensive control our government has over science but we’re about to see just how far their reach can go. Which is pretty discouraging to someone who is dedicating their life to science since Trump, and most Republicans have a very different view of what that means and it’s importance in our world. I’m not really sure why their party feels like this. I’m not sure when science became a liberal viewpoint. I’m not even sure how that’s possible. But at some point it did and we’ve already seen the fallout. 

I’m not sure there was one specific point when it became clear that the GOP no longer cared for the reasoning science provided. The AIDS epidemic has to be a good contender though. Of course, we’re all familiar with this huge governmental catastrophe. We’ve all seen the movies, read the books and we know the story. Each time we watch”And the Band Played On”, “The Normal Heart”, or “Philadelphia” we’re filled with awe and rage. We can’t understand how something like that could happen; how everyone could just overlook all of these people dying and offer them no help. How the government could turn a blind eye to hundreds of thousands of deaths just because the majority of them were gay men. It’s mind-boggling and upsetting. And each time we experience the tales, we think “that was a different time” and “something like that would never happen today”. 

Except Ronald Reagan was president during the AIDS epidemic. You know, the same Ronald Reagan that our future president has been so kindly compared to. Obviously not regarding the management of AIDS but the similarities between the two are a bit striking. 

Flash forward about 35 years to now. HIV is so well controlled now that most patients live completely normal lives. That epidemic will not be Donald Trump’s story. Not that it was Reagan’s. When we think of him, the AIDS crisis is not what first comes to mind. We think of the movie star who became president and implemented his “Reaganomics” to save America’s crumbling economy. We think of the Cold War and the assassination attempt. Maybe the war on drugs and then, just maybe we get down to AIDS. 

I won’t begin to try to riddle out the implications of those policies. The ramifications of most of those things are definitely interwoven in today’s world. But none of that is the point. 

We’ve tackled AIDS thanks to a bunch of really awesome scientists who were FINALLY given money to do research on a deadly virus. This isn’t today’s problem. 

Today’s problems are, unfortunately, more numerous and in some cases, the effects are much more widespread. Things like global warming, record high rates of STD’s, abortions, pipelines, mental health, and gun-violence are just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended there except, ya know, the icebergs are melting). And we’ve now elected a president who is grossly unprepared to handle them. Which is not entirely his fault. Y’all didn’t elect him because he’s a scientist, you picked him because he’s a businessman. Fine. I get that. I can’t expect the guy to be good at everything. I doubt Hillary was much more equipped than him to handle these issues. She did however at least acknowledge the importance of science and the role of the president in these issues. However, not the point. We all knew the important thing, regardless of who won, was who they chose to surround themselves with. 

Trump’s pick: Myron Ebell.

I’m sure you’ve heard all about the dude who’s horrible name is only a glimpse into the disaster he is. He’s the newly appointed head of the EPA. Which is a super interesting position for someone to hold when they A) don’t have a fucking science degree and B) don’t believe the environment needs protection since global warming is no big deal. The dude, who runs a “liberterian advocacy group” conveniently funded in part by the fossil fuel industry, has been called a “climate criminal” and runs a group “focused on dispelling the myths of global warming”. He called the Pope’s encyclical from 2015 on climate change “scientifically ill informed, economically illiterate, intellectually incoherent, and morally obtuse”. 

HE CALLED THE FREAKING POPE MORALLY OBTUSE Y’ALL. 

Which is pretty ballsy honestly. Ballsy, but absolutely ridiculous. 

Now none of this is technically set in stone. In typical Trump form, or should I say, reality TV show Trump form, he’s been more than happy to remind us that only he knows what’s really going on with his appointments and that the rest of us will just have to tune in next week to see just who makes the cut. Except unlike the Celebrity Apprentice (a show I happened to love), we’re all way more terrified than excited to see just how big of a mess these next four years are going to be. 

And sure Myron Ebell is just one dude. Even if he does actually end up being in charge of the EPA, that’s just one of the many issues we’re now facing. The real problem actually lies with Trump. A man who also guffawed at climate change claiming that global warming was a hoax creating by the Chinese, who has promised to dismantle Obama’s Clean Power Plan, who has called the National Institute of Health (NIH) “terrible”, who has voiced his full support of his newly appointed justices overturning Roe v. Wade, who’s plan to revoke Obamacare would leave millions of people without access to mental health services along with general health services they need, and who’s promise to de-fund Planned Parenthood will leave over 4 million people without access to STD testing and treatment, breast cancer screenings, Pap smears, and a wide range of other reproductive concerns that have nothing to do with abortions. This doesn’t even include the newly elected Republican controlled House which will no doubt continue to approve an extension on a bill essentially preventing the CDC from researching gun violence by continually denying them funding all thanks to the great and wonderful NRA.

Reading all of that makes me feel like I do when I read about the AIDS epidemic. It’s mind-boggling and upsetting. It’s also terrifying. 

And I get that Republicans aren’t inherently opposed to all of those things. A lot of their opposition comes from federal funding or federal regulation which I can also understand. But the thing is that right now is not a time to pull out national support for science. This horribly awful year which is already predicted to be the warmest year on record and boasts the highest rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia in US history. A year of scares from the Zika virus and Ebola virus. One filled with seemingly never-ending threats to everyone’s water supply by pipelines; of course not forgetting the wonderful town of Flint which still doesn’t have clean drinking water. A year filled with climbing suicide rates and a literally unknown statistic on gun violence since the CDC isn’t even allowed to study it. 

This isn’t the year to scrap it all and start over. Especially when Trump has absolutely no intention of starting over and, even in the likely chance that he changes his mind, he has no qualifications or advisers with qualifications necessary to do so. 

We need science. We have always needed science. We need it to prevent our country from losing another generation to a STI or suicide. We need it to prevent our children from growing up in a world where they don’t have clean water or they have to wear masks to go outside because the pollution is so toxic. We need it to continue studying cancer, Alzheimer’s, MS, Zika, diabetes, drug abuse, mental health and a whole slew of other life-altering conditions. We need science. And I can’t even believe I have to make a case for that because it just seems so...duh. 

But here I am. Terrified that the very thing I’ve been planning on spending my life devoted to is about to lose all value. And I know that’s probably dramatic and over-reacting and again, I hope so. Me, my mounting debt, and ya know, my concern for humanity, really, really hope so. And you should too because, no matter who you voted for, we will all have to suffer consequences if our government chooses, once again, to ignore science. Maybe it won’t be anything like the AIDS epidemic. Maybe it will be. Maybe it will be one of the things I’ve discussed, maybe it will be something we all never saw coming.  I don’t claim to know. All I do know is that we need science. Now possibly more than ever. And I sincerely hope that next week’s episode of Donald Trump weekly will paint a more positive picture for the scientific community starting with maybe adding advisers with actual science degrees or acknowledging that global warming might require some attention. That would be a great place to start. But regardless, this week has proved that the next four years are going to be a battle for science, one we all have to fight in. And me and my shabby lil’ science degree are ready for it. Because this has to matter. For every single one of us. Or else the last episode of Donald Trump weekly is going to be a very bleak episode in a world, I for one, do not want to be familiar with. 

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Here are some of the articles I found relating to the stuff I talked about so you know it’s not stuff the Chinese or I made up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/science/myron-ebell-trump-epa.html?_r=0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-gun-violence-research_us_5671bde3e4b0688701dbee36

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/22/474888854/suicide-rates-climb-in-u-s-especially-among-adolescent-girls

http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/2016/std-surveillance-report-2015-press-release.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/meet-myron-ebell-the-climate-contrarian-leading-trumps-epa-transition/

[itsthefishdoctor-blog]

November 10, 2016.

So it’s day 2 in a post-Trump America. It’s taken all of 48 hours for Trump supporters to call all the upset Hillary supporters “overdramatic” and “cry-babies” and “a bunch of whiners”. I’ve seen probably 50 or so of related posts to this today. Things like “everyone needs to calm down” and “nothing is any different than it was yesterday”. And I’m just super dumbfounded here. As I sat in my apartment watching the results come in, it was impossible not to feel the change. I could feel the panic welling up inside thinking “how is this possible?” and “oh my God, this can’t be real”. I’ll be the first to admit that I do tend to be on the dramatic side. It’s one of my best/worst qualities. But this isn’t being dramatic. And I’ve been typing replies to Facebook posts all day and deleting them because I don’t want to add fuel to their fires. But if there’s anything this election taught us, it’s that we CANNOT be silent and allow ignorance to run rampant or else we will live in an America none of us will be proud of. So, here it goes.

I am a white woman. Most of the things Donald Trump has proposed to do, will not effect me. Sure I will lose my free birth control, which does actually suck because I’m currently living below the poverty line since I’m on student loans, but I will survive. I’m not planning on having an abortion any time soon and I’m covered on my parent’s insurance for 3 more years. So truly, I have nothing to complain about.

Except that is exactly how Trump got elected. 

58% of his voters were white and 53% of them were men. So to be very un-dramatic, it’s not fair to say that he won solely based on this but those are both pretty big chunks. Big chunks of people who weren’t going have any of their rights taken away by Trump. People who cared more about their money, their guns, their religion (although this still boggles my brain), their OWN safety, and of course the lives of all those lil’ babies they want to protect so badly until they are actually born. People who (I’m choosing to believe) didn’t super like the dude because ya know, he is a racist, misogynistic, sexist, lying, adultering, unethical, (probable) sexual abusing, douche pants, but could look past all of that because, if we’re being honest, it didn’t apply to them. Or not enough for any of that to matter. And people have said this as though it’s a defense of their vote. “Well, I don’t think he’s a good guy and I don’t support any of that other stuff but Hillary’s going to take our guns/abortion is bad/Syrian’s are going to attack us/the economy sucks/whatever else nonsense they care about more”. And the rest of us have said we understand and we can appreciate that you had other reasons but if we’re being honest, we really can’t. Because when you voted for him you were either saying “ya I’m cool with all his crappy qualities” or “I don’t care enough about all of that for me not to support him”. And both of those are super shitty options. Because he is, unfortunately, a package deal. You can’t get all the good parts without the bad as it is so often in life. 

And again, to be very fair, I’ve been impressed with him in these past 48 hours. I appreciated his victory speech and the message that was interwoven and sincerely hope he is able to bring our country together. I have said it many times that I truly hope all of the nonsense he spewed was solely for publicity and that he really will be the best option for our country in the next four years. Nothing would make me happier. 

But the thing now is, Trump isn’t even the problem. The problem we now have is that the things that y’all chose to overlook, are the things people now think are acceptable. Men on the night of Trump’s victory were grabbing womens’ crotches claiming it’s their right. Muslim women have had their hijabs ripped from their heads and told to go hang themselves with it or that they don’t belong here anymore. Black children called the n-word at school. Black women told to go to the back of the bus where they belong. Gay men beaten. Mexicans told to “go back to hell, wet back”. Swastikas drawn on lockers, KKK parades, confederate flags with “Kill, Kill, Kill” being flown. This is the America only 48 hours after Trump was elected. He isn’t even in office yet and his hate has already left a mark. 

So what do, not just Hillary supporters, but really anyone sort of a humanitarian do? They protest. They exercise their freedom of speech. And what do the people who voted for Trump do? Ignore it. Belittle it. Call it “dramatic”. Call the protesters “whiny”, “ungrateful”, and “sore losers”. Say “this is what happens when everyone gets a trophy”.

And I’ve about had enough of it. Because first off, fuck you. Fuck you for thinking that the victims of those attacks, hate crimes, and assaults don’t matter. Sincerely, how can you even say that and not realize how patronizing, naive, and privileged you are? People aren’t protesting because we’re “crying that Hillary lost” or “we didn’t get our way when we’re so accustomed to it”, they’re protesting because hate won. And not just at the White House, hate has won over our country. In our schools, in our subways, on our streets, in our homes. If the past 24 hours have shown us anything, it’s that hate has absolutely taken over. And hatred is a very volatile thing. It is exactly what drove all of those people to commit those acts. And I’d be absolutely shocked if it doesn’t continue to escalate from here. 

Second off, protesting for human rights is exactly what protesting is for. And now more than ever, so many of our citizens are in fear that they are about to have their rights taken away. This fear is also being called “dramatic” and “unfounded” but lets work through that real quick. Because as I’ve already mentioned, Muslims have already had their right not only for their religious freedom but also their right of safety violated by the people who have attacked them as have gay men, African Americans, women, Mexicans, etc. So there are some prime examples of people who’s rights have already been lost. Women all across the country are about to lose the right to have breast cancer screenings through the shutdown of Planned Parenthood and the loss of Obamacare. The world is about to suffer in a way we can’t even begin to imagine if Trump keeps his promise to pull out of the climate change conference and refusing to acknowledge that it even exists (it does). He plans to remove what he calls “roadblocks” allowing things such as the Keystone pipeline to move forward by taking land that doesn’t belong to the government and putting thousands of people’s drinking water at risk. He’s promised to appoint a pro-life SC justice and has made talks of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade. And let me tell ya, no matter what your feelings on abortions are, illegal abortions are not something anyone should be in support of. Don’t believe me? Read this (science, fact based article) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709326/. Trump himself has said that he would “strongly consider” appointing a SC justice to overrule the legalization of gay marriage. All of those seem like pretty damn important rights, some of which apply to literally everyone. But apparently none of that is valid enough to call for a protest. None of that calls for anyone to be concerned or down-right terrified. 

And let me just say, that I will never support burning the flag. It is absolutely uncalled for and disrespectful. I’m also against any destruction or violence caused by these protests because that is never necessary or helpful. 

But I am in support of the protesters. I’m in support of the people sitting at home watching the protesters, supporting them, cheering on their message. I’m in support of the people standing up for their own rights and the rights of others, whether that’s in a massive crowd, or for the woman at Wal-Mart who is being harassed. I’m in support of the African Americans, the Muslims, the LGBT community, the disabled, the poor, the women. I’m in support of my fellow humans who are entitled to the same rights that all the straight white dudes have. And I will defend you all as I would hope you would defend me as best I can, even if it’s just with a bunch of words on a computer screen. Because as much as this election has shown that hate exists in the world, it has shown that love does too. And love will always trump hate no matter who lives in the White House as long as we all remember how to love one another. 

So to wrap all this mess up, I just want to say that my heart is sad tonight. It is sad for all of those who are scared and tormented. It is scared for the future that we will all have to face. But I am not spiteful, not belittling, not blaming. What happened on Tuesday is done and all we can do is move forward. It clearly isn’t what I would have chosen but I can’t change any of that. All I can ask is that we stop yelling and start listening to one another. Instead of mocking those who protest, ask them why they feel the need to do so.  Instead of hating Trump supporters, ask them what they saw in him that made them hopeful. Instead of tearing everyone and judging them, ask yourself how are they different from you. Instead of separating each other based on skin color, gender, sexual orientation, birthplace, ethnicity, religion, learn from each other and become a community. Become a nation again. Because that’s how we’ll make America great even with Donald Trump as our president.